


Distraught

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [108]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Gen, Grief/Mourning, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 02:58:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5113604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Those still in the house react to the recent fatality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distraught

**Author's Note:**

> Part five, "Death Defying Acts."
> 
> **Original Characters** : Antoine Henriques, Vanessa Quinones, Mallory Cambridge, Amarie Cambridge, seen Isi Hill, implied everyone else.

Nora and Jessica and Eric are in the study, Willa is still asleep, Pam and Tara are (probably) still asleep, Amber and Ghaliya and Asra and Noël and the others are either asleep or puttering around their respective guest rooms, and right now Luna and Nicole are on guard duty.  The humans have been taking turns at that all day, and given that Luna has been up since Sam left and Nicole has been up since all the fairies and everyone took off, it makes sense.

Around four Nicole raps on the door of the study and calls, “Are you gonna be in there for a while?  It a good time for a front door check?”  Those have happened periodically through the day.

“Yeah,” Jessica replies.

Luna waves her phone, smiling.  “Sam’s gonna be back soon,” she offers.

Nicole nods and motions her up to be a second pair of eyes.  “Everything okay at the bar?”

“All fine,” Luna agrees.  “Arlene’s got it under control.  And Emma’s having a nice sleepover with Lisa.”

“She’s a good sport, hosting so often,” Nicole muses.

“She really is.”

They’re quiet for a minute, just watching out the door, until Sam’s car pulls up.

“Hey,” Luna calls out, but -

And it happens so fast -

A man speeds out of nowhere, speaks and he’s got the British-Australian voice of the asshole who’d been at the door, and -

And his hands go around Sam’s neck and -

“Get the fuck back!” Nicole shrieks, pushing Luna away and slamming the door closed, then fumbling to lock it before anyone can rush out impulsively or Warlow can try to rush up.  It’s almost impossible that he hasn’t noticed them, but then he knows they’re all holed up in here, it’s not a secret.  He probably even know they were there to watch.

All at once Luna collapses against the study doors, loudly sobbing into the cradle of her arms, and Nicole starts working up a barricade of tables in front of the door, breathing heavily.

“What the hell happened!” Jessica exclaims, running out of the study and dropping to her knees beside Luna, rubbing her shoulder with one hand.

“That - that _thing_ ,” Luna cries. “He - it - Sam -”

“Somehow,” Nicole stammers, her voice getting more and more high-pitched as she tries to keep from losing her cool, “somehow the _goddamn_ vampire - he’s out there, he just - he just snapped Sam’s neck like -”

“Oh my god,” Jessica says.

“What the fuck?” shouts Antoine, appearing at the top of the stairs.  “How is that even -?”

“Someone call Sookie and them, make sure they’re okay,” Lafayette orders, before explaining to the uninitiated, “Motherfuckin’ vampires can daywalk if they drink fairies.”

“I tried calling them,” Vanessa says.  “It goes straight to voicemail.  Texting hasn’t got a response either.”

“Must not be reception in the fairy… rave… dimension,” muses Nicole, trying to get her breathing under control.  She sinks down against the front wall and after a moment Isi goes to sit beside her, then turns her so he can braid her hair as a soothing mechanism.

“So they’re still there, probably,” Mallory suggests.

“Sis, you oughta get Willa up,” Amarie says softly.  “She should…”

“Yeah,” Mallory murmurs, going for the door to Willa’s room.

As everyone devolves into worried conferring, as Vanessa and Antoine lift Luna off the floor and take her to the parlor sofa, Isi takes Nicole the same way, as all of the vampires emerge from their respective guest rooms at Mallory and Amarie’s prompting, Nora and Eric finally come out of the study, Nora looking like she’s shed a tear or two.

“It’s like we thought,” Jessica whispers.  “He’s daywalkin’.”

“He wanted to catch us off guard,” Nora murmurs.

“He killed Sam,” Jessica says incredulously, even though they’ve certainly already heard.  “Didn’t even try to drain him.  Just walked up all arrogant and slick and -”

“ _Stop talking about it!_ ” Luna shrieks from the parlor, bursting into a fresh round of tears.  “God, it’s so _horrible_ and you’re all just - just -”

“Nobody is trying to make light of the situation, Miss Garza,” Eric says patiently, crossing the foyer.

“Shut the _fuck_ up!” Luna shouts.  “I don’t want to hear it.  All your sanctimonious fake-polite ‘Miss Garza’ bullshit, how there’s just _casualties_ in war, how you’re _so_ sorry for me but sometimes -”

She’s interrupted by a thunderous knocking at the door, and everyone freezes.

“Do you see now?” Warlow roars.  “My bride will not be doomed to eternal night, if that’s what you fear!  We will walk together in the sun and the light until the end of days!  And any of you who dare oppose me will meet the same fate as this dirty shifter trash, whether human or vampire or fairy or some other godforsaken half-breed!”

“Don’t you _dare!_ ” Luna roars, pushing toward the door.

Nora meets her halfway, though, holding her in place with what may actually be the world’s most incongruous, awkward hug.  “I can’t let you go out there, Luna,” she says very gently.

“Who the _fuck_ are you to tell me what I can and cannot do?” Luna hisses.  “All of you, if you hadn’t - and he hadn’t - he’d still -”

“Sam’s been friends with Sookie for longer than a single damn one of us have known any vampires personally,” Tara interjects, arms folded like she’s not going to take shit but voice careful like she understands the situation.  “And like we went over last night, not a single damn one of us, including Sookie, knew that this was in the offing before that, to use his own words, godforsaken half-breed showed up.”

Luna frowns, but she at least stops squirming in Nora’s grasp.

“There are a lotta ifs and maybes,” Tara continues.  “That’s kinda just how life goes.  I know that sounds stupid and philosophical, but it’s the best I’ve got for you right now.  And this, actually.  I been friends with Sam a long time.  He’s been the only one in my corner more than once.  And when this all gets taken care of, I’m gonna sit down and cry my eyes out ‘cause he’s not gonna be in the world anymore.  But right now, what we’ve gotta do is -”  She interrupts herself, raises a hand, and nods toward the cellar door.  “We oughta get where…”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Tara,” Nora agrees.

Eric goes to open said door and ushers everyone in.

“You can’t hide in there forever!” Warlow shouts.

“We’re not going to,” Luna mutters, low enough that he won’t hear.  “But you’re going to wish we did.”


End file.
